Hope in the Trenches
by Dispatching Kratt
Summary: Gift story for my best friend, The Magic of Friendship Grows.It's writing year 1914 and Chris is a fresh graduate ecology student who dreams of going to college and becoming a biologist.His plans fall apart when he finds out that the US has been involved in the Great War and he has to enlist with his older brother. WWI AU and Alternative History inspired by HoI4 and Pierre et Luce.
1. Prologue

Chris was a brown-haired young man with brown eyes, fond of walking dressed in green. Despite the tragic childhood event, his life was quite nice and was coming the moment when he will learn whether he pass the exam of adulthood. Graduation.

He was 18 and was born in 1896 in Falcon City as the second son of a policeman and a former Union Civil War soldier. His mother worked as a teacher in a primary school.

He had an older brother named Martin. But unlike him, Martin had an elongated face, blue eyes, and blonde hair. He was four years older and could boast of getting a zoologist's diploma soon.

Yes, both siblings were inclined to love nature. After their father's death, they found solace in it, found what they had come to, and decided to dedicate their lives to it.

Also in each of them the experience influenced their studies at high schools. Chris studied ecology and nature protection, his older brother, unlike him, studied public administration.

Chris' big dream was to go to college after graduation and become a biologist. For him, it was a dream job. He could work with his older brother, and perhaps both siblings would even discover new animal species together.

His prom was supposed to be tonight. He was happy to find that he had passed the exam and now he was waiting for a farewell to his classmates he had spent four years with them in high school.

The school building was gray in the former accounting office. The building was shaped like a cube. In the classroom, typewriters were sometimes used in theoretical lessons, otherwise the curriculum was usually written by hand. Teachers used white chalk and a lubrication board during their lessons. In practice, students traveled to places where they will pursue their future occupations.

"I'll miss you my dear friend!" One of his classmates just patted festively dressed Chris on his shoulder, shortly after he arrived today to the high school. Chris was wearing a black suit, black trousers, and a white shirt under the hall, complemented by a green tie. At that moment he was on a gloomy corridor, the students of the lower grades were graduates who waited for their well-deserved ball.

"Oh man. I didn't expect you to come here!" Chris said and he looked at the another young man, however black-haired.

The man whose presence Chris was surprised was his former elementary schoolmate who became a turner. He worked at Varmitech's engineering plant next to the city The owner of the race, of Chinese origin, was renowned for his political on thr scene debates in the city, including Marxism debates, which came to America from Tsarist Russia.

Chris accepted congratulations from his old friend to the gym of the school where the graduation ball was to be held. Martin arrived quite early (he was also same dressed as Chris, but instead of him he had a blue tie) and Chris soon forgot his former friend, because after congratulating him he left. The girls in the dress looked at the two brothers and some even giggled.

Chris was nervous of one girl. The one he broke with recently. He broke up with her because of disagreements over the future of the relationship, and the wound still hurt him. He tried to do that he was not here, and he did not even celebrate when the school hired cabaret began to perform his musical work.

"Little brother, are you okay?" Martin asked him, Chris was somewhere else for his thoughts.

Chris was startled and immediately looked at his older brother, a college student drinking tea.

"Yeah, I'm ok." he said and he was a little nervous.

"It's your evening, go dancing with a some girl." Martin tried to nudge his younger brother to dance with a girl

Chris ignored the music and the joy around him. Yes, he was looking forward to college, but the broke still hurt his heart.

"No, I'm sorry, Martin, I don't want to." Chris said and went to the unobtrusive place in the gym door. He tried to think of good things. He will go to college and maybe find his soul mate as his older brother.

He pulled out his notes. He was not a writer-based man, but when he had mixed emotions, anger, sadness or depression, he helped to write down his emotions on the light yellow sheets of paper. Think of nice things, think of nice things, Chris thought.

Suddenly the speech began. The principal of the school ordered the music to stop, and it attracted all the graduates and their loved ones who came to visit them. Chris returned to his older brother and began to watch curiously and listen to her speech.

"Dear graduates and of course, students of this school from lower grades. I understand you. You are looking forward to colleges and their faculty, to the new people who do not succeed, but your cheerful will have to wait."

"What the hell is going on?" Chris muttered to his older brother, when he saw the proncipal of the high school on the place of a cabaret saying this

"I'm sorry Chris, I don't know." Martin shrugged

Speech continued.

"Before I tell you what this is about, I must point out that the same applies to our college students from University of Falcon City. The war with German Empire has begun in Europe and the United States will engage in the war at the outset, because of the UK's demand for war cooperation. You, the young men who have been sitting and sitting in our school desks make the most important thing in your life - sacrificing your life for you beloved homeland on the battlefield. I ask you what do you want the war with German Empire and their allies to get here?"

Everyone were shocked at that moment. Chris at that moment realized, that his plans fell apart due to war. Speech soon added on patriotism, which forced the young men, who was there to join army.

"You will fight for your country. The war is compulsory and every young man who is here is involved. For America!"

Followed by an enthusiastic, but brothers did not know what to think about it because of one war, they told them parents when they were children.

Chris seemed to be totally shocked and also that he was. He wanted to go to college, but for his homeland service on the battlefields of Europe, his dream would have to wait. Maybe the German soldiers would shoot him there, but what if the army wasn't that bad?

I'll fight with Martin for peace as a dad, he thought, that thought was giving him hope.


	2. Chapter 1

Both brothers had to postpone school and compulsory enlistment to the US Army due to war in Europe. Both the brothers soon became aware, just like the other young men who had to compulsory enrollment, of what caused the start of war in Europe.

The pretext for the beginning of the war in Europe was the assassination of the successor of the Austro-Hungarian throne Ferdinand d'Este committed by a Serbian active nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

The United States was introduced to the war in order to help The Triple Entente (alliance of Great Britain, France and Russia) in the fight against The Triple Alliance (Prussia / Germany, Italy alliance of Austria-Hungary) if European troops from The Triple Entente started to fail and prevent so that the war goes further into the world.

In Falcon City, young soldiers had to wait for training in a military base near the city. The base was located in a wooded area, and its history began during the American Civil War. Originally it served the Confederate soldiers, but after the attack on 26th June 1863 it fell into the hands of the Union. After the Civil War, it served as a barracks for men who volunteered and students of military schools or offenders.

The base was now a kind of forestry. A few of the original wooden parts were preserved, otherwise most of the buildings were made of bricks, steel bars and concrete.

New soldiers had to start training immediately. In Chris's case Friday. A month has passed since he learned of the war from school. The joke was that the war was announced a few days ago. Apparently, all states knew there would be a war after the assassination.The new cadets, whether the boys were high school or college graduates, were required to enter the war.

The first day in the barracks. The long-awaited day has become a reality. After the enlistment, all the young boys had to come in front of the building and have to wear a uniform. Chris felt strange and a little uncomfortable. Some boys were not even 16 years old.

It was summer and so it was hot outside and nice too. But in the trenches it might not be like that. Numerous were about fifty-year-old black-haired man who started to gray. He had a gray beard and wrinkles on his face. He was certainly a child during the Civil War, and he certainly saw horrible things that no child should see.

He looked at his cadets and motioned for them to "Attention!" to get their attention.

All the cadets, including Chris and his older brother, were immediately alerted. The gendarme started back and forth around the standing youths with words:

"You came here because you want to fight for your country at the beginning of a new war. You've certainly learned a month ago what's happened in Europe and they've just begun to tell you to come here. Everyone knew that there would be war before it was announced."

He looked at the Kratt brothers with a look, as if they were getting on his nerves about something. Chris remembered one good joke about the soldiers Dad told him and his brother when they were little boys.

It made him laugh, but it was a mistake because he felt a burning wound on his face that hurt a little. The gendarme slapped him. The gendarme looked at the Chris name patch Chris had on his chest uniform, then looked at him and said:

"All right, Mr. Kratt. My job is to get you in shape, teach you to fire weapons, throw unlocked grenades, teach you to handle bayonet and kill enemies. There's no time for any of your fun. Understand, this is a real war, and I've experienced one as a little boy and remember those horrible details so far. The civil war wasn't like your daddy-some army unknowing officer told you. So for God's sake raise, or you do not survive your first action!"

Chris after this, was silent. He sincerely insulted him a bit when the gendarme called his late father a "army unknowing officer" because his father served in one war. Martin was looking at him from the end of the line with a look that indicated that he should have been silent. The gendarme then returned to his military sermon. After this scene, the other cadets looked at Chris and the youngest cadet held back laughter.

"You'll spend a month here. Then you go to the front in Europe. There is no chance that everyone would end up in the same regiment, company or platoon. Either you become infantrymen, artillerymen, snipers, or machine gunners in ground forces, or you go to the navy or air forces."

Several young men seemed to enjoy the war. The fact that they will not be with girls for a long time and that they will have a sexual taboo have forgotten. Perhaps they had perhaps even romantic ideas about war. To say that when they told them at school that they would fight on the good and the peace side, if they killed the enemy, they would be heroes, that after the war the world would be even better than before. Or they just liked the idea of being real soldiers with a leather gas mask, a green uniform and a helmet, a backpack with the necessary things and a bayonet / rifle in their hands.

The gendarme had apparently noticed that his cadets in schools, whether high school or college, had been poured into their heads through patriotism, that war was the best thing to meet them in their young lives. He stepped back, looked at the future regiment he was supposed to train and tried to break the wonderful ideas of war.

"If I were in your place, I will not be happy about that people are dying and they are going to die. I tell you in advance that you won't all come back from the war."

The boys who seemed to be happy about the enlistment now were offended, and it was clear that he certainly didn't believe what the gendarme was saying.

"Get fifty squats and pushups and go back to the barracks. I'm starting with you tomorrow and no fairy tale. In the first week I will get you into physical form, the second week I will teach you how to deal with weapons, the third week with heavy weapons and horses, and at the end of the fourth week you will show me whether I made you a real man, show me what is in you, how great is your strength. And then you can look forward to a trip to Europe".

The gendarmerie looked at his supervisor before he left to see if the cadets were carrying out his order. At first, it did not looked hard at all for Chris, because in his free time he went to the countryside and enjoyed playing Tarzan from time to time. He was accustomed to climbing trees, he learned a lot from his daddy-soldier, and also that after his father's death, he had improved his relationship with nature.

Martin was more of an artistic type than an adventurous type. Although the two brothers shared the love of nature, when it came to other interests, each one of them was completely different.

"Martin?" Chris asked his older brother, when while doing pushups.

"Yes, little bro?" Martin looked at him, while he was doing the same thing. Martin sweated, it was psychically harder than the gym in school.

"Do you think we'll be in the same regiment?" Chris asked again.

"hope so. I would have a chance to show how the right older brother behaves and, of course, to protect my little brother." Martin said.

After the first exercise they were supposed to come to the barracks when they first came here, so they had to change into military clothes immediately, this was the first day to serve as a tasting of the military training awaiting them.

_First week of the military training _

The first week seemed incredibly boring and exhausting to all future soldiers. In addition to having to memorize the Commander's commands, hand commands, they had to practice a lot. Just walking, all jumping, all the squats, all the cliques ... as with the stupid in the backyard.

Chris didn't know whether to look forward to the battlefield or not, in any case, the first week of military training had beaten his typical optimism. In a few kilometer run, a stronger student of the business academy sat on him as he set his foot on the run. Chris tripped over to the stone path.

It was cloudy, and it was raining and cold. It might not be worse. He tried to get up, but his right leg ached. He looked at his leg. His leg was frayed into the blood. Shortly after, Chris realized he had a sprained ankle. Fortunately, his older brother saw what had happened and ran to him for help.

Chris even with the sprained ankle tried to complete the physical part of the training.

_Second week of the military training _

The second week was a real military training. Chris's injured leg was starting to heal. With his older brother and other cadets, they had to start learning rifle shooting. Rifle shooting had to be fast and every shot had to be set manually. Yes, even among cadets there were choleric individuals who were aggressive in training and did nothing over straw manikins.

"Shoot! Shoot! The enemies will try to kill you on the battlefield and will not cuddle with you! Speed up, speed up! " gendarme yelled "This isn't a stupid warm-up! Try to shoot them to pieces!"

Chris in lying looked at his older brother. On the head he had a green helmet and holding the rifle dirty from the mud. His older brother tapped with a finger at his forehead that the gendarme in charge of shooting was probably not a normal person.

At that moment the two brothers heard a shot and a young man screaming.

They heard the curse of another young man, immediately put down their rifles and went, like the others, to find out what had happened. A twenty-year-old boy was accidentally shot while training. The boy who accidentally killed him waited for a yes, instead of exclusion and imprisonment, a premature mission to fight at the front.

With this episode, the excitement from the rifles ended.

_Third week of the military training_

In the third week, both brothers fired from the artillery for the first time. The cannons have always made a terrible noise but have done great damage. The young soldiers were getting anxious, and some were in favor of sending them to the battlefield early. Riding on horses reminded some of them that their dads were riding horses when they could.

They learned that next week they would find out where to send them. Shooting from machine guns showed it to be more destructive than it looks.

_Fourth week of military training _

And it was here.The last week ended with a test of the strength of young soldiers and the subsequent journey to the battlefields of Europe.

"I see you all last time today. You started out as 15 young cadets of which only 12 remained until the end of training." The gendarme said, looking at them with a proud look, like a teacher raising a naughty pupil for good.

Everyone knew very well what was waiting for them. Testing whether they are ready to be soldiers who will die on the battlefield during the fighting.

"Well. Show me what's in you!" the gendarme ordered.

Chris preferred to stay with his older brother. What awaited them was just an ordinary obstacle course enhanced by shooting and riding on horse, but it was still exciting.

Crawl on mud, shoot when the enemy threatened, ride on horseback and show off the destructive power of cannon and machine gun.

It was hot that day, but the buckets of water made sure that the crawl in the mud was on the real battlefield. Chris stood there against another young man who was bullying him during his monthly training.

"You did it little brother!" Martin shared his happiness, when that his younger brother stood up to his aggressor and managed it.

"He got what he deserved!"

The two Kratt brothers dressed in a mud-stained green military uniform rejoiced and the youngest of the fresh soldiers, only a fourteen-year-old boy poured out a bucket of cold water on them. Chris and Martin laughed and Chris whistled cheerfully. The young men and the boys they came across became their friends, forgotten about the war.

Unfortunately, after the military trials, the gendarme broke the joy when he came and ordered them to wear uniforms and line up from the highest to the smallest.

"Now you'll learn what you've been waiting for all the time - where you fight. Congratulations to all of you who survived the training and who will then shoot the battlefield in France."

The gendarme began to call names and who would go. The first youngest boys, one fourteen and the second fifteen, became snipers in ground troops. One became a machine gunner and another gunner.

Chris learned that he was to become a pawn and that he would fight in the trenches. He hoped that his older brother would also be a pawn and shoot from the trench together against the enemies, but disappointment was expected in this Chris.

Five cadets are supposed to go on ground forces, he is among them, another five to naval forces, and only two are supposed to go to air forces.

Martin ended up with another young man a year older than him as the pilot of a new invention, the so-called fighter aircraft, which was to be deployed for the first time at the beginning of the war.

After this finding he was unpleasantly surprised, he felt the typical sibling worry that the siblings felt when they were far from each other and that Chris was the younger one.

"You go to France tomorrow morning, where you will fight, you will not know it's secret, so that sensitive military information will not get into the hands of the Prussians and their allies. Remember, you're fighting on the side of The Triple Entente as an American deposit."

Chris absolutely did not listen to what he was saying, he was submerged in his thoughts that he did not know what would happen to his older brother high in the air and how he would deal with all those things to kill in the trench as an insignificant pawn.

_*this is also an Alternative History. That's the explanation why there is fighting aircraft already in 1914 instead of 1915._


	3. Chapter 2

It was cloudy and raining outside. The port of Falcon City was just full of soldiers and military equipment. A raging sea could be seen from the shore. This will be a wet journey to France. Young soldiers said goodbye to their relatives. With their parents, friends or girls they loved.

Chris and Martin looked unrecognizable in military gear.

Chris was dressed in a green military uniform and there was a patch on his chest with a dark green helmet, a heavy backpack with a rifle and other equipment on his back.

He and his brother, as well as other fresh soldiers, were given a higher rank. Ensign.

Martin, as a fresh ensign who had been trained to pilot a fighter plane, did not have to worry about having to carry a stack of things like his younger brother. Unlike Chris, he had a fight in the sky, so he didn't have to worry about seeing what the ground soldiers had to see. Since he was supposed to be a pilot unlike his younger brother, due to the necessary training he wasn't expecting a trip and military deployment today in France, but even so he wanted to say goodbye to his younger brother before he met him again somewhere in the wreckage of a artillery destroyed house.

Of course, their mother could not forget the farewell with her two sons - fresh soldiers.

"Your father would be proud of you." Linda, their mother said, when she saw her youngest son in the military equipment.

Chris smiled, the sentence made him happy. Dad would be proud of him and his older brother, but sadly he didn't live to see this moment.

"Don't worry, Mom, I promise to be careful with my little brother." Martin admited and Linda she looked away at her oldest son, dressed in a light blue uniform with a patch of freshly formed United States Air Force on his left shoulder. He had a falcon patch on his right shoulder, indicating that he was a pilot from a air force from Falcon City.

"I just hope you guys get out of here. In one war your father fought before your birth, and what he saw there was haunted in nightmares before his death." Linda said and she hugged both her sons

It rained quite a lot and Chris came up with the idea of pulling out the green cloak he had in his backpack to keep his mom and older brother from raining. There was thunder.

"That's good mom. When the war is over, we'll both be here. None of us will die." Chris said but there was thunder again. All the young soldiers who were here and were already wet, but suddenly a man who was in charge of the rookies.

"ALL PAWNS ABOARD!"

Chris looked back. Thunder thundered again, this time with a flash of lightning. All the soldiers who had to fight on land had to board a military ship.

"Mom, Martin I'm sorry, but I have to go." Chris said and in the crowd of other young soldiers he boarded the ship.

Martin and Linda looked at a military ship ready to travel to France. In the crowd they saw Chris calling to them and waving them. Lightning struck again. The ship slowly began to move away as soon as a small black dot disappeared into the darkness and the noise of the thunderstorm.

Chris realized he was a little sleepy. He didn't look at the angry Atlantic Ocean or the cloudy night sky. He was wet and cold. This was not the way he imagined travel to France.

He tried to cover his ears, not to hear the noise, to be warm enough to sleep normally in the blanket because he would have to be full of energy tomorrow. He'll be on the battlefield tomorrow. The noise crawled on his nerves and swore a little angrily.

That's how he spent all the way to France. Fortunately, the rain slowly stopped, and although he was pressed against the steel wall and had wet things, he was fortunately able to fall asleep.

"GET UP! GET UP!"

Chris woke an angry voice from one of the gendarmes. He opened his eyes. The helmet slid off his head a bit while he slept, covering some of his face. He took off his helmet and looked around sleepily. The other young men were getting ready for landing and putting on their equipment. He got up, took his stuff, and looked out of the deck. He saw the approaching French shore.

There was a small town on the coast. The port was small and apparently had the purpose of replenishing supplies and ammunition for the British, French and Russian soldiers who fought there.

"Get ready! Not far from the coastal town you can see is the western front where you will fight!" the soldiers's superior shouted.

Chris almost fell to the ground with the other youths when ship crashed. Ship by the shore stopped.

Because of the war, France was not as Chris imagined it before the war. Although the inhabitants were in the city, as soon as he and the other young soldiers from the ship got out of the distance, he could hear the noise of the artillery.

Followed the way to the battlefield. In the French town he got a chance to have breakfast and a few young men with whom he was to be in the regiment were impressed by the grace and beauty of French girls.

When Chris saw them, they reminded him of his recent break. He looked at the flirt disdainfully. When he heard those girls say "dear" and "sweetheart" to his friends in English with a French accent, it also made him envy. He currently has no girl he would love and would love his. He's alone.

Soldiers were also given a ration in the city, including chocolate, chewing tobacco and cigarettes. Moreover, Chris ignored these things, while his fellow-men were thrilled about it, and perhaps because of this they began to love their homeland service even more.

When the gun noise was missed from a distance, it looked nice, maybe better than in Falcon City. Near the town there was an old church and before the war it was an economic area.

It was an agricultural area, but there was a danger that the enemies would try to invade and destroy the field because of the battlefield that was nearby. For this reason, it was protected here, and food and ammunition were imported across the sea.

The break was quite short, so Chris could have a cup of milk and bread and butter with other soldiers at the nearest pub for breakfast. After a break for breakfast, the soldiers had to return to service.There was a few-kilometer journey to the battlefield.

Chris had no absolute idea of what to expect. He was a little scared. It was the first time he'd been separated from his older brother like this for the first time. In addition, each of them ended up in another part of the army. He became a pawn, his older brother a pilot.

The journey had to be on foot. The gendarmes had to keep an eye on fresh soldiers because all these young men, including Chris, had been waiting for the first action. Several soldiers were in charge of the horse and the transport of supplies and ammunition. The road to the trenches of European soldiers who were on their side led from the beginning through the forest. With each new step, the noise of the guns approached.

**BOOM!**

There was a bomb blast. Chris looked back and found the road was over. There was smoke, almost mud on the ground, and the ruins of the village, which became one of the hotspots in the area. Trenches were nearby. The trenches were protected by regular artillery shots, machine gun and rifle firing, or grenade throwing and steel barbed wires.

"ALL YOUNG MEN TO THEIR PLACES!" One of the gendarmes yelled on the confused soldiers.

Confused Chris came to the other young men he was supposed to be in the regiment. The individual from the Business Academy struck him deliberately, and with the flowing blood of his nose he fell into the wet mud. What that idiot has to do with me, Chris thought.

"Kratt? You should rather name Crap!"

A little stunned Chris heard the voice of his aggressor. Worse, this man was supposed to be with him in the battalion. He stood up and wiped the blood flowing from his nose. He looked at his fingers. He had red drops of blood on them that he wiped.

"Even the fucking blood from your nose will stop you, come back to your mother you weak! This war is about to win and win people like me, not someone who is smaller and weaker than me! That guys?" That young man's "friends" suddenly laughed. Chris tried to ignore them.

He leaned against the shattered tree and tried to forget it. At the end of his training, he thought he was quiet from his bullying, but probably not. He looked at the gendarme and listened to what he was saying.

"You all know that you will be divided into several groups! You start in regiments when you reach higher rank, so you will even be in battalions! You all know what to do - attack!"

Then Chris was recovered from the attack by one of the men who had been in his regiment. He jumped into the trench because he knew there would be more safety there than if he ran straight into the battlefield with his rifle in his hand. He barely pulled out his rifle and could hear the sounds of frost on his back. The roar of one young man who was with him in training.

He pushed his head out of the trench to see what had happened. He was frightened when he saw a bloody corpse on the battlefield. Before a while it was a lively man, a young man with him in training. Chris was terrified, but since the fighting was in full swing and the guns were everywhere, he had to forget the death.

"Hey, you there! Don't cry and do!" One of the British soldiers, who were there in the same trench yelled at shocked Chris

Chris didn't answer. Again, he reached for his charged rifle dirty with mud. He was shaking and that was just a moment. You set up your weapon so that he could aim and shoot from the trench. He saw several of his "brave" classmates screaming at the battlefield trying to shoot at runtime.

A bullet shot through a skull to one young man from his third grade. Another was shot at the bloody pieces of meat and organ by artillery. And the last one killed a machine gun. They were young men of his grade at his school (where he graduated recently) who would never see their family, friends and girls they love again.

He tried not to look at it and was appalling to shoot a group of three enemy soldiers who were about to throw a bomb into the trench. When he enlisted, he imagined his homeland service as the most holy thing in the world. This was just his first action and he was here the first day and he was already terrified.

Before his first kill, Chris realized something was stinking here. It took him about five seconds to realize that it was the smell of decaying flesh and decaying corpses.

He aimed, closed his eyes, and fired. He was still terrified and shocked. A tear came from his eye. When he went to fulfill his ministry, he didn't want to be a killer.

No, I'm not crying, I'm here for my country, I'm not here to regret them, Chris supressed emotions in himself.

He was just as frightened and afraid as he had when he had seen his father's murder with his brother. But this may have been worse. There was dying every now and then, and it never seemed to end.

He tried to get out of the trench. He had to crouch at once. The Prussians fired from the guns and rifles properly. He was dirty with mud and, after a few seconds of stressed search for safe shelter, he found safety on the straight battlefield that remained as a wreck of one house. Chris barely leaned against the wall, wondering if any enemy soldier could be running to shoot him.

The thought that his rage and the negative emotions he had felt after his father's murder could be poured out on the enemy's head, he thought. Moreover, he and his brother saw it.

Yes, Chris then suffered from childhood trauma PTSD. But his first experience on the battlefield reminded him of it and maybe even made it worse. So far he was too scared to go crazy at one moment. In addition, because he could go crazy about the childhood trauma and the horrors of war he didn't know.

He fired a rifle for the first time without regret. Then he noticed a dead body rolling near his hiding place where he fought "out of focus".The corpse had one thing in it that impressed Chris- the harmonica.

He threw a grenade, was slowly starting to accept it.There was an explosion, and the mud flown in the explosion. Chris had stolen for the first time in his life, but what he was singing about here.The harmonica meant to him that when he didn't fight, he could play music in the trench to calm him down.

He took it quickly and ran back to the trench. There was a flying bullet, and he suddenly felt pain in his left knee. He stumbled with his wounded leg and he fell into the trench.

He had no time to injure himself because another artillery blow came again. He needed to calm down somehow to keep it here. He pulled out the harmonica and tried to play it. He breathed quickly, his heart pounding very quickly and sweating.

Soon he forgot the injured bleeding leg. His ears were bleeding because of the weapon noise, but he could only hear the harmonica's melodies.The music reassured him, reassured him.

For a moment he played his harmonics, but then he heard the voice of one of his friends from military training.

"Chris!"

Chris stood and turned. He hid the Harmonica in his pocket and followed his friend at the end of this, perhaps abandoned trench.

"Here you are! I've been looking for you everywhere and I'm scared. I've seen what's going on here and it's not a nice look when, when..." a fifteen-year-old boy with a sniper rifle took it worse off than three years older and already an adult Chris. He also went through the same thing as Chris, but by being younger it was more demanding for him.

"That's alright. I hardly recover from it, and it's my first action." Chris said

"The Gendarme said that when we get more into hostile territory, we have to wait for operations. What about he hasn't said yet."

Chris in the noise of war he followed his friend. The regiment was to reunite again. He was looking forward to getting used to this battlefield and not being scared. Maybe something happens to him in this war, where the soldier is hopeful.

"You limp." his friend said

"They shot me in the leg and I need medical help."

"In the trench, where you and me were dropped by is a military hospital. You'll soon get out of this, pal."

Anyway, Chris thought and he followed his friend in the trench.


	4. Chapter 3

Chris has been in the army for three months. He had to adapt to worse living conditions and had to get used to the work of a killer and a worker in one. His older brother, a military pilot who recently completed flight training and who was recently deployed, sent him letters so that his little brother was not afraid of him.

_Dear little brother. I'm sending you this letter so you don't worry about me. How are you doing in land forces? I've heard that pawns have it worse than pilots, so I want to make sure, as a good older sibling, if you're okay._

_I'm in the Air Force for two months and it's not pleasant if you're afraid of heights. Something has happened to me that you will surely understand. Losing a friend.__ During the flight training I found a friend, but he was shot down by Italian pilots during the first deploy._

_Where I fight, I have no right to tell you in this letter._ _The generals and the gendarmes won't let me write about it because if this letter gets into the hands of enemies and there is military information, it could cause problems and give the enemies an advantage._

_Maybe we'll meet Chris once again, you're my younger brother, the best friend man can have, and I miss you. It's terrible to fight and not know what's going on with you._

_I wish you good luck._

_P.S. Don't worry, you'll find love_

_Your older brother Martin._

Chris read a letter from his older brother Martin. He was sitting in a trench on a box of bullets. At the moment it seemed that the fighting had stopped, but it was not true. The fighting was getting worse every day, and the soldiers had to deal with the bombing of enemy pilots who attacked almost every day.

Chris took several injuries during the first three months of the war (so he had a bandaged hand) and the other thing the soldiers were not excited about was politics.

The his backpack was laid beside the crate, wondering if he would pull out his accordion and play. Other soldiers used the peace as well. They were drinking tea or playing cards. It was cloudy again, but the soldiers were used to the weather.

Two soldiers were burying dead bodies and another young man, along with a gendarme, chased out starved rats from food supplies.

Chris pulled out his handkerchief, where he had the flower he'd picked up while moving to another location.

He sniffed at the flower, closed his eyes and smiled. It was a short time when he couldn't smell the sulfur, the gunpowder, the blood and the decaying or burned meat.

He remembered the city where he grew up, where he liked to go out with his older brother as a little boy. Again he saw forests and fields around the city. An ideal place where he could one day live with his own family if he lived at that moment.

"SOLDIERS!" the gendarme yelled.

He hid the handkerchief in his pocket and quickly looked at the copper watch he had found in the hands of a German man. He wasn't excited about this, and it was a weird feeling for himself, but what was remaining for him, when he is another insignificant soldier?

Like other men, he put on his stuff and set up a rifle. He watched in silence the gendarme who walked past them, looking at them like they were still cadets.

"I have a bad news for you and I want it to serve as a warning to others. Do you remember your last mission?"

"Yes, sir!" there was an automatic reply from all the young men who were here including Chris

"One man from your battalion, name and surname Jeff Oralson betrayed you. After the last mission we had him missing, then dead, but now there is fresh information about him. He deserted. It is not yet known why he deserted and what his intentions were. Anyway, his punishment is clear. If you find him, shoot him immediately without trial. That's all."

The soldiers then returned to welcome peace. Chris, absolutely didn't knew about who the gendarme was talking about. He hadn't seen the presence of any Jeff in all the time he'd fought.

"James, about who the gendarme was talking?" Chris came to his friend with a sniper rifle patrolling the trench, already 16 years old.

Chris himself was already 19 years old.

"Do you remember that idiot from the Business Academy that bullyed you? It was him."

James barely said it, so suddenly there was an unexpected attack. Chris immediately grabbed his rifle but nearly fell to the ground because the ground shook again.

The bombing began.

Chris saw machine gunners trying to prevent enemy pilots' attacks, but in vain. Both machine gunners caught it in less than five seconds, then grenade attacked.

"Save yourself who you can!" someone shouted shortly before his death.

"Fight! Show those sons of a bitch who's the boss! No deser-" A gendarme with a gun in his hand did not say it, because at that moment a grenade had killed him. There was a bloody broken skull left in place his of his corpse.

All the while he was here, this was the first time that had happened. At that point, Chris didn't care whether he was deserting or not, or that his party was losing or winning. It was just one thing. Survive.

There were also enemy soldiers who wanted to make their survivors prisoners. They were German soldiers in an imperial military uniform with bayonets in their hands. At that moment, Chris was going to save his life that he didn't care if he killed them or not.

He hid his rifle and went mad for a moment. Before any of the enemies could command him to surrender, he attacked one of them badly and used the bayonet as a knife. He had been here only a quarter of a year and the war had already been mentally signed.

Again, he heard the sound of the guns, while running, he stuffed his ears and searched for a way out of the ruined trench.

"Chris, Chris!" he also heard voice of his younger friend, who was finding him.

Sorry, James, I can't, I can't, this is too much for me, Chris said to himself.

Once again, every few seconds, the clay was flying. Chris was mentally, so much at the bottom of the attack that he almost wanted to die. The war hasn't brought him any good yet, just horrible experiences, remorse from killing and sadness and stress.

He barely thought he'd gotten out of the battlefield, had thrown him out of the cannon. He had a few scratches on his face and one small wound in the forehead area was bleeding. He crawled to a tree trunk from a nearby forest, leaned back, and shortly afterwards fell unconscious.

The sounds of crackling twigs ripped through his unconsciousness. Nearby fights raged again. Confused, Chris opened his eyes and looked around. At first he saw everything blurred and twice more, but after a moment his eyes recovered.

He had circles under his eyes, he was sweating, and blood and dirt were on his face.

Again, he remembered those bad memories. Childhood trauma PTSD returned along with the warfare PTSD. At the same time he was terrified, so he was rather half-crazy without even knowing it.

He got up immediately and grabbed the rifle. What turned out during a violent encounter with German soldiers came back.

"Who are you!?" he yelled "On whatever side are you, I tell you, don't mess with me!" and he wanted a warning sign to fire from a rifle several times to intimidate the unknown person.

The half-crazy Chris wanted to find the person and kill her. He did not realize that he was now a completely different person and that he could at any moment lose the last remnants of reason and go crazy.

"This is the first time I've seen a half-crazy deserter here." came a woman's voice with a Spanish accent.

Female voice. That was the last thing Chris could wait for on the deserted part of the battlefield. It confused him and began to turn and aim the rifle all around him. He wasn't sure he was supposed to shoot because he would first reveal himself and second, he not hurt the girls.

He was just beginning to realize what was happening to him psychically, so he saw the unknown young woman hidden behind another tree trunk watching him. Because of PTSD, paranoia was still burning in him, what if she was an enemy.

He threw back his backpack and helmet at the tree, where he spent a few hours unconscious and with a rifle in his hand with a mad look on his face surprised the unknown young woman.

They were aiming at each other with weapons. Chris's face changed as he saw her. She was beautiful, so beautiful that she seemed to get into his war and the horrors of war torned heart.

She had dark brown hair braided in a braid and, like him, brown eyes. Her face was round and beautiful.

At that moment, Chris had forgotten that they were aiming at each other because he fell in love with her. He felt those love emotions, beautiful pleasant emotions that would fill the emptiness in his heart after the end of his last love affair.

But the his tragic events marked part immediately suppressed his attraction and love emotions to her. Crazy expression and evil emotions returned to Chris for the suppression of positive emotions. So in other words, he lost his short, loving look and returned the insane look.

She was aiming at him with a handgun, and she seemed to be able to handle the thing. According to what she wore, Chris thought he'd met the guerrilla.

"I suggest you give up." he said and he still looked threatening.

"I don't think you can do it. Sir." was her reply

Half-crazy Chris, who had just suppressed his feelings for her, provoked that answer.

He wanted to pull her hand gun out of her hand, but he couldn't. They kept aiming at each other, but Chris was beginning to retreat emotionally. He breathed deeply again, trying to calm himself. He realized that he'd almost gone crazy a while ago.

"Rather, it looks like you're giving up on me." she said and she still aiming at him, because she didn't knew, if he is still enemy.

Chris, indicating that he didn't want to fight her, threw his rifle down on the ground, looked at her and said: "This is the first time I've ever met a woman like you."

The young woman unwillingly stopped aiming at him with a handgun and hid the gun.

"While I was here, I had already met a traitor and deserters on both sides, but not such a half-crazy soldier." she said

"I'm on the side of the American soldiers and you seem to be guerrilla." Chris said

"Thank you for the compliment, but I'm not a guerrilla and I guess you're a deserter."

"No, I'm not a deserter, but I'm already missing. Aren't you a volunteer? You don't sound like a French guerrilla."

"Are you playing with me? I'm not on the any of these sides. One wants power and the other is fighting it. Then even the Russians and their 'Bolsheviks' bullshit about being all equal. But yes, you hit it right I'm a volunteer."

Chris didn't expect such an answer. He could still hear the noises from the battlefield around him, but he and the young woman didn't seem to be involved.

"I noticed your accent, you're from Spain." he said

"And on the contrary, you're the American, as you voluntarily told me."

Chris smiled a little. How more and more he talked to her, so he didn't see the enemy he should kill in her.

"I'm just wondering what you're doing here when Spain is a neutral state."

She glanced at him with such a well-read look. She seemed not to know how to respond to his response. Not if they just shot each other a while ago.

"Even in Spain, much is happening. If you have been careful in history, you know that the kingdoms of British and Spanish were enemies at the time of the colonization of America and Francis Drake. Now the politics are very tense and yes, this war has reached the border."

Chris realized he had forgotten the crucial thing.

"I forgot to introduce you 'dear'." he said and he bowed "I'm Christoper Kratt, but call me Chris. I confess that I haven't met a woman like you with such temperament yet."

The word. The word 'dear' was a little bit stunned by the young woman, because after that she had the feeling that the American youngster at her age, who had almost killed her now, was flirting with her. Or specifically, they almost shot each other. That he just wanted sex? As a soldier, he couldn't make love for a long time, so she wasn't sure if she could feel any emotions at all.

She watched him for a moment before answering him. He was probably crazy because of the stress of the war, because now he was the greatest gentleman in the world. And he was even friendly until he was almost cute.

"I'm Aviva Corcovado, but call me just Aviva." she said

"You have a nice name." Chris said and he smiled

"Thanks. When I met you, I wonder what we're looking for. You know, because you're a soldier from The Triple Entente and I'm a volunteer who's not on the anyone's side." she said

"How do you know that the United States is fighting on the side of The Triple Entente?" Chris didn't understand

"If you are not on any side, you can find out a lot about both sides." she said and looked back, noticing a group of soldiers who had come to see it.

"But why are you here when you're not on the anyone's si-" Chris did not finish his sentence because she immediately she led him to the nearest highest place of the forest pulled him to the ground.

Chris got to know the men of his group in those soldiers. There was his sixteen-year-old friend, a sniper. He realized that after the gendarme's death, which had his battalion in charge, the soldiers had decided to find out for themselves what had happened to him.

"Here is lying his rifle.." said one man from his regiment and he nudged the gun with his foot.

"There are also his things. Do you think he deserted?" James, his friend asked other young man, who were also in his battalion.

"I think he thought he was the only survivor of the German attack." one soldier added

"Wait, they're talking about you." Aviva said, what she thought.

They both lay on the floor watching the group. Chris was nervous. He didn't know how it would turn out, anyway he was afraid that when he showed up, he would have a serious problem.

"They talks about me. This is my battalion." Chris said and he was still nervous

"Leave those things here. Maybe he was temporarily lost and then he came back to us. After all, we don't have to shoot him as a deserter who hasn't yet appeared." James ended the search.

Chris watched them go and knew they had to go after them. But he fell in love with the Spanish volunteer with whom he had a "romantic" first encounter. Either friends or she.

They stood up and Chris started to take his stuff. Aviva looked at him and giggled.

"Why are you laughing?" Chris asked after he took his backpack and then his helmet and rifle

"It is nothing. I think you should go after them _Cristóbal_."

Chris looked at her again. That spanish word, which she said get him.

"This is the Spanish equivalent of your name. You feel quite like a nice man if you are don't going crazy."

Chris was already slowly leaving the forest to catch up with his battalion, but still he had a nice surprise from her.

"We could be friends if you don't mind. I've been here for a long time and I'm glad I found somebody like you and I don't care that you're from America." Aviva said

Chris paused for a moment and turned to see her.

"I do not mind it. I'm just as happy as you are, and I was a little nervous about other men being my friends. Next time we meet? My battalion will surely change site." Chris said

"Go ahead. I'll lend you. I'll give you a sign when I'm with you." she said

Chris turned and ran this time to finish his battalion. He was already inventing a story that would cover what was actually happening.

_Jeff Oralson is my friend's OC (Wild Kratt Crazy), he is in the story, because I thought that it will be a good idea, if her OC was in her gift story. Don't worry, she know it. If you don't believe me it's her OC, you should read some of her stories._


	5. Chapter 4

"-so, that's how I escaped from the Austro-Hungarian captivity. Believe me, Czech legionnaires don't want to fight for a monarch." Chris just finished his story.

The other men from his battalion looked at him as if he were the greatest hero among them.

The soldiers were sitting around a small burn.The fire cracked and it was dark outside. So there was little camp to do in the trench. One young man who lost his leg during a fight lit a cigarette. He lost her because of a shrapnel explosion that literally ripped his left leg into bloody anatomy.

"Nice story friend." James said and he looked at Chris, his older friend with a sharp view.

"Thanks, James, they almost tortured me." Chris replied

The oldest man in the unit, a 40-year-old carpenter, briefly engaged in a friendly discussion. Previously, there were only young men in this battalion, but he got here when he was found as the only survivor of one of the German attacks. He rode a horse and he was a French nationality.

"Messieurs." that French soldier addressed them. Everyone looked at him. "Do you remember your childhood? Here, where is now fighting, I liked to play with my little sister in the fields as a boy. My father was a farmer married to an accountant's daughter." he said with his French accent.

Chris ignored the other soldiers in the battalion. He was tired, but at the same time, full of energy due to happiness.

"My father died shortly before my birth. My mother was alone with me and my father's death was too much heavy for her. She died shortly before my seventh birthday and I ended up in a children's home. I was once a foster family, but I escaped from here and joined the army." one of the young soldiers shared his story.

Chris still didn't see them, though he had sad and happy life stories. He kept thinking of the young woman, a volunteer from Spain, in which he fell in love. The fact that she had made friends with him was a win. He closed his eyes dreamily for a moment. Love, love. Thanks to love, he was suddenly out of the war of wars that the world had encountered in this decade.

"Guys, did you hear about they want to move us inland?" James said

This immediately woke Chris up and immediately looked at his friend.

"How did you find out?" fell out from the surprised Chris

James looked at him again. When Chris saw his look, he understood that his best friend among the ground troops, where they both served in him for some reason, could not see a friend he had seen in him before.

"Shortly after the Germans killed the gendarme, I searched his body. I found that he and the generals, together with the British, intended to attack enemies shortly before dawn, causing them to lose and weaken them." Chris's friend caughed and Chris noticed that, since that "fatal" day is something wrong with James.

"And I bet my prevention of getting the Germans to valuable information is more important than the mysterious temporary disappearance of our dear friend from the battlefield."

Chris heard it. This is how he did not imagine his friend after returning to the battalion. He didn't know whether it was allowed to have anything between the soldiers and the volunteers. Friendship or love. But, what is the other one from another country? Moreover, from a country that has not yet joined this war?

No, so far he and she are not lovers. So far, they should be just friends. It doesn't happen, so often, that two people become friends after they almost shoot themselves.

"I'm going to sleep now. You know guys, tomorrow is another trip and another site, and I don't want to fall asleep on the way."

Chris got up and left the fireplace.

The other soldiers looked at him, but stopped after a while. All but instead 16-year-old James, Chris's friend.

As for sleeping, after destroying the inhabited trench, it was even worse during the morning bombing than before. As a sleeping bag he had to use one torn blanket he found.

He put things down next to where he was supposed to sleep.

Quite surprisingly, the hard rucksack served as a pillow and jacket like a blanket.

Chris fell asleep to remember the last time he slept in bed. It was during military training. The bed at that time seemed hard and uncomfortable to him, but he would love to exchange it for that.

He remembered the young woman he had met in the woods today. He was falling asleep. He kept thinking about her, yes in the distance there was still fighting, and the noise was heard right here. He tried to do what was going on there and what was a tiny part of thinking and trying to think about it. Aviva. Her name was in his memory, still thinking of her.

He knew he loved her. They became friends, and the time and place where they were to meet again inconspicuously in the midst of war battles was unknown. What if he refuses his love? Chris felt she was the only one he had now. Tears began to flow from his eyes. All this in such a short time. He began crying softly.

What if something happens to her and he won't see her again in her life? Or, what if enemies shoots him and he does not manage to tell her that he loves her in the right moment?

If they met somewhere outside the fight, it would be all easier. Surely they would be friends and their friendship would surely turn into love on both sides, and they would have time to be together. But when Chris was on the battlefield, it was harder for him to invent his own world full of joy, friendship, happiness and joy, where he and Aviva would be.

He remembered the harsh beginning of their first encounter and the friendship that came from it. He started to fall asleep. The memories of her reassured him. He still has a lot to live with her.

He started to fall asleep. He thought of her. He kept showing his first encounter with her and what was after happening in his head.

He fell asleep.

Autumn was coming. Leaves began to fall from the trees. The decaying bodies of those who did not get a chance to get a decent funeral or to be buried began to disappear beneath the dirt and mud. The places where they fought were mostly devastated. It seemed that the grass had disappeared on most of the ground and had been replaced by wet mud and puddles of dirt water.

The battalion of a group of (mostly) US soldiers decided to go where the gendarme and general wanted them to be sent. Inland.

"Jesus Christ." one of the soldiers sighed, when the battalion was in the camp of their side destroyed after the enemy's attack.

Chris was just charging his rifle, but because of what was there, he turned his eyes on the ruined camp.

The tents were either torn, rolling in wet mud or burning. The campfire didn't burn. There were several dead bodies on the ground with very ugly injuries. It was a nasty look at the body of a young soldier missing a jaw.

"I think I'm gonna throw up." James added and he tried to do not look at it.

Chris he tried to do that he could see nothing. In fact, he was terrified. After all, it threatens to happen to him.

"This war is useless." he sighed, when he examined this destroyed place.

He wanted to keep his loaded rifle in his backpack for a while when in it that moment...

"Someone is here!"

Chris immediately ran to the other soldiers. Someone was hidden at the ruined wooden wagon, where a dead horse was also lying. The German soldier as soon as it turned out. Desperate, unwilling to fight and scared. Chris felt sympathy with him at the moment.

"What we do with him?" James suggested and he looked at Chris.

Chris was looking at the soldier, who had certainly gone through such a trauma that he might have lost his mind. Even older soldiers fought here, but this one was still a child. About fourteen-year-old boy. In German, he said something that Chris and other soldiers did not understand, and there were some English words that sounded like "Let me live!".

"Let's help him." was Chris's idea

"Let's leave him alone. He is a young man and he seems to have lost his mind because of the war." Frenchman added

"We'll take him as a prisoner." one older soldier added.

Chris looked at his friend James. From that forest thing James changed, but in what? A week passed by Chris's meeting with Aviva, and he didn't know when to see her again.

"Gentlemen. You seem to have a problem with what to do with such an enemy."

Chris watched his friend, who was walking in front of them as he was gendarme.

James stopped and pointed to the trembling German man hiding behind the wreckage of a wooden wagon. He continued his speech.

"He's an enemy. An _e-n-e-m-y_. I'm telling you, don't save them. They want to kill us and I want to prove to you that we have to do what we have to do. We have to kill or we'll be killed."

Chris was getting worried. His friend did not behave like that before.

"What are you trying to tell us a boy? That we should kill him? Don't be angry, but I disagree. He's a child. You were and are recently a bit of a child. You wouldn't do that." Frenchman said

Chris was getting nervous. He had a desire to intervene and join the Frenchman, but after it seemed that his "friend" won the gendarme title could not do anything.

"That not?" James said with an angry tone

"Not." Frenchman said

There was a horrible scene after which Chris changed his view of his friend. James pulled out a handgun, came to see the scared boy. He kicked him lightly to look at him. Hardly after the young German soldier looked at him, he pointed a gun at him and pushed the trigger.

Everyone, including Chris, was silent. They heard the shot and knew very well what had happened. James that boy, two years younger than he shot.

"So guys. Are we going to just sit there with our hands in our lap or will we go to our designated trench?" James said and he looked at Chris, who was terrified at that moment from him.

The inland trenches were no longer as wet as those found in the cities where the sea was. Chris had hardly come to the trench, and he had a meeting with soldiers of different nationalities, not just British.

While some volunteers from other neutral countries were there, Chris soon lost the chance that his friend, the woman to whom the love and intimate feelings were, was here.

Once again he found himself on the battlefield, where shrapnel was flying, grenades exploding, where bullets were flying, where artillery was firing where bombing was taking place, where death was coming at any moment.

He was suppressing his emotions on the battlefield, but he liked her. She had not yet known that he loved her, so far they were just friends. But something changed then. Chris had almost wished to die because of what he had seen on the battlefield, but life had once again made sense after meeting her.

The fighting in the evening was calmer, but as was said, the sounds of weapons in the distance was still heard. On the contrary, there was a higher risk of an unexpected attack.

Chris was lucky. For tonight, along with one other man, he had a night watch while the others slept.

Again it was dark and the only light in the distance was the lamps in the trenches. Chris, with his rifle in his hands, wanted to climb out of the trench and look around, but his colleague checked it out.

"Where are you going Chris? James said that we should be there." young man said after he put his hand on his shoulder.

Chris turned.

"I just want to look at something Dean." was Chris's reply.

"You'll unfortunately have to wait for the morning." Dean shook his head

So Chris spent about an hour or two on patrol. Leaning against a wall of clay. His legs began to hurt after some time and he felt tired after today's hard day. He almost fell asleep.

"Is there that half-crazy gentleman from the forest?"

Chris recognized the woman's voice immediately. It immediately woke him up. It was her. It meant he was here, just like she said he'd let him know.

He immediately got out of the trench. Luckily, Dean was watching somewhere else, so he didn't notice Chris's other temporary disappearance.

She handed him a hand to help him climb. At that moment, Chris realized how deep the dark was.

"Well, let's see lady. You have a lamp?" Chris asked after he get out of the trench and he saw light from the lamp in one of her hands.

"I stole it from a Russian regiment while they were asleep. I don't know what the Russian Tsar would say to this. How you had?" Aviva said

Chris brushed off a little at the moment and looked at her.

"I don't how to describe it. I feel that the war heroism through the killing begins climbing my best friend to the brain." he said "But I'm glad to see you again. This has changed a lot since we first met in the forest."

Both experienced the feeling of finding a friend he had met a long time ago and friendship had gone out. They embraced.

"Well, 'dear', there's nothing serious between us. So far we're just friends." she said.

She called him 'dear'. Like him, he called her dear, during their first meeting, when he indicated that he was not an enemy. It was a friendly flirt. Now she used the same thing for him. There was nothing romantic or sexual among them yet, but this was evidence that those emotions were hidden between them.

"How did you do Aviva? I had to shoot, walk, shoot, hide, patrol, shoot again.." Chris said

"Don't worry, I'll tell you. I just want to tell you that when I followed your battalion, I found a great quiet place. So far, we not very know each other even when we are friends and I thought about getting know there in private."

An enamored picture appeared in Chris's head. Just him and her. Maybe the chemistry will be there.

Aviva looked around, then looked at him.

"I think it's better if I can take you there and me. There is not safe for such friendships." she said and then he she led him.

My words, my words my love, Chris in love thought.

The road led through the forest again. Chris, it seemed a little bit that the woman he loved had to be the daughter of a spy because of the way she'd been on the way to where Chris was losing as a soldier.

"So, Christopher. Here it is."

It was worth it. It was a small place in the event of a struggle, and even though it was dark, it was clear that it was beautiful during the day. A place great for lovers.

"So you're spending your time here? You seem to be moving regularly." Chris said and again he put his things aside, a rifle, a helmet and a backpack near the tent.

"Also, yes. My father loved nature and technology. He taught me how to make things from scrap metal used. It sounds like he was a craftsman, but in reality he was, unfortunately, just a repairman who yearned for an engineering degree and then being an inventor. He died when I was going to college in an accident. At that time, the war began, and I thought I'd take part in the fight instead of him even though it was still outside Spain."

Chris noticed that when she mentioned her father she was so sad. In the last few sentences, she had changed the tone of her voice, and a tear seemed to drop from her eye. Chris knew exactly how she felt.

He put his hand on her shoulder, pressed her to him a little while standing, stroking her calm. He wanted to kiss her on her face.

"Chris, it's okay." she said and after getting out of a short friendly hug.

It was a little disappointing to him, but it was too early to be a couple or a lover. They were just getting to know each other. They were friends so far and it was too early to get into a love affair that might have a tragic end due to the war.

"I want to let you know that I understand you, I sympathize with you. My father died when I was six. He was murdered and I saw it then. He was a soldier during the Civil War, and his death was the reason why I joined the army, into this damned war that doesn't know when it will end. I sympathize with you, I know what you feel Aviva." he said

She looked at him. She flew into his arms and a moment in his arms, the arms of her dearest friend she had found crying.

"It's alright. It's alright. If you were sad I am always available to you." Chris said when she was crying for a while in his arms.

"You're the best friend I've ever found here." she muttered

This sentence took a little surprise. They only knew each other for a week and here they were just getting to know each other.

"And you're also the best friend I've ever had here." Chris replied

Aviva smiled and she started to calm down in her friend's arms.

"Are you also reading?" she asked him, she was calmed down, but she was still swinging, standing, in his arms.

"I don't have time for it lately, but I'll read something out there. I like _Sherlock Holmes_." he said

"Shakespeare." was Aviva's reply

Chris at that moment forget about his tiredness, because he get a great idea.

"I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"How did you mention the books - what if we were in the tent together for an hour, maybe read loudly, for a hour maybe for a more time?"

She looked into his face. Straight into his brown eyes. She stared at him as if they were supposed to do something forbidden.

"You'll have to go back to the trench soon. You see, because of what happened at our first meeting. What if you fall asleep with me during reading in that tent?" she asked

"Do not worry. I'll solve it myself. Even if we finally fell asleep together, I don't mind. I'm glad to sleep somewhere at least one day, where they don't shoot every moment." Chris said and he smiled

Aviva hugged him again and again she said: "You are best friend forever."

"It's a little early for that, but it doesn't matter. Come on, at least we'll have some nice, non-violent moment in this horror." Chris said.

And also, yes. In the evening, they had a better time to get to know the light in the tent, reading the English and Spanish versions of Shakespeare's theater work Romeo and Juliet. Chris felt a little like Romeo for that. Chris forgot his patrol and his return to the trench. Their pleasant moment ended by falling asleep together.


	6. Chapter 5

Chris woke up suddenly very early in the morning. He fell asleep dressed.The little book lay on his palm. He woke up from sleeping on the ground with a sore body. The first few movements were a little uncomfortable, he knew he needed to stretch.

Aviva was still asleep. During the night reading, she fell asleep beside him. Are they friends or rather lovers? Yesterday's evening showed that the deep ones were among them. That they are friends, but they are slowly beginning to find that they love each other. Maybe it starts to grow faster between them, because of the war, when they both threaten not to be alive the following year.

Oh crap, Chris thought when he remembered, which job he had tonight.

He got out of the tent. and started taking his things. That's what we did. A friendly, almost romantic time spent with her will return to him with trouble in the trench. James might not jump for a story for the second time. Why did his best friend from battalion hate him? Why? Why?

He was a little angry because the evening was the most beautiful evening for him since he broke up with his last love. Love for her gave him hope. The hope that the world can be beautiful again and that happiness exists. After his last breakup, he suffered from depression, and when he fell in love with Aviva, he again felt joy and happiness. Unfortunately, she didn't know about his love yet.

"You have to go?" he heard her voice at the moment, when he took his rifle.

She left the tent. Apparently she knew what was happening now. Her dearest friend must leave. Make it not when he is a soldier by The Triple Entente and she is a war volunteer who is not on the anyone's side.

Chris looked at her. She was gorgeous for him. The red glow of the rising sun lit her clothes. She was dressed in civilian clothes and had a patch on her shoulder. Probably her own, but it was possible that she had been in a group of volunteers before. Maybe she did something like desertion. Maybe she was the only survivor of a heavy attack.

"Unfortunately I have to. I'm sorry I didn't have the opportunity to be with you longer." Chris said and he was about to go to the battlefield.

At that moment, Chris realized that he was a little tired and that he wasn't eating and drinking.

She came to him and looked into his face. Her palm slid into his palm. Chris was a little blushed in this act. At that moment, those emotions certainly felt both.

She also blushed a bit, though they were "friends", but those emotions were probably there since their first meeting. Maybe they met each other more than they'd expected last night.

"Never mind, it was a beautiful night." she said and she again, but a little bit nervous looked into his eyes. "I don't know what's wrong with me. Since I first met you, you seem cute and nice. Those emotions-"

Chris hugged her. She wasn't crying, but this time she clung tightly to him. A rifle fell from his left hand to the ground.

"It's alright. I feel them too. I know what it is I just don't know how to describe it to you. Plus, we just got to know each other and this was our second meeting. I guess we're something more than friends Aviva." he said.

He stroked her again.They only knew each other for a week! Week! It would be unrealistic for them to become a couple after the first encounter, but this was their second encounter.

"The war put you and me together. I feel it. It's love." she said

"It's love." Chris repeated

They almost cuddled. Because of the war, the emotions were going faster, for Chris this was the realization that Aviva liked him since their first meeting. That would explain why she spoke to him with the Spanish equivalent of his name and why she giggled when they arranged a second meeting.

"Wow, we'd get to know each other so quickly. Unfortunately my love I must go before my battalion finds out I am gone." Chris said, while they were cuddling, standing.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he hugged. Then she got out of his arms again, but their hands still held. With his other hand, he stroked his face, then there was a thing that moved their young love to a new level. She kissed him on cheeks.

Chris blushed and opened his eyes. He felt a surge of joy and happiness.They both have something to live for!

"Wherever you go, I'll go with you, darling. Nothing can get us separated." Aviva said after she kissed him.

"I love you." Chris said

Now that they were in love with each other, there was a desire to be with her. He wanted to kiss her on the mouth, tell her tender words, be her best friend, her lover, her dearest beloved.

He barely created his own world where are only he and she.

Although it was a day, but almost everywhere there was smoke. Shrapnel exploded in the air, and sharp pieces of metal injured several soldiers. Again, the young man's screams, who died prematurely, screamed around.

"Shoot! Shoot or they shoot us!" James yelled and the two young men, who had the cannon in charge accelerated.

Chris was again in the open battlefield, searching for his battalion. He startled. The bullet had just flowed near his head, if he had been running a few centimeters in a different direction, he would have ended dead with his head shot.

He thought of her. His love. On Aviva.

He just had to fire fast. The man he shot ended with an injured hand. He fell to the ground in pain and tried to stop the bleeding. His rifle fell to the ground, and he writhed in pain with a bloody hand on the ground lying in the mud. Chris came to him and looked at him. He could have shot him, but he didn't. He was badly injured several times during the fighting and suffered from the PTSD, an alias Shell Shock known among soldiers, but he didn't want to kill.

"I don't want to kill you. Get out of here with your hand or something worse will happen to you and I won't be able to did it." Chris said

A shocked fifty-year-old Italian soldier looked at him. He coughed, grabbed his rifle, and ran away from his sight.

Chris was suddenly thrown away by a grenade blast combined with next shot of shrapnel. He landed in the mud. It hurt him, but he didn't know about his injury yet.The pain came a few seconds later. He opened his eyes. He was stunned. He could see the war turmoil in front of him. Soldiers from both sides fell to the ground like wooden soldiers. He saw a little blurry, the look improved in a few seconds, but there was something that struck the confused Chris.Three little black, maybe dark red stains. Chris blinked. Stains disappeared. With the onset of headache, he realized that the stains were not tiny bits of mud but drops of blood.

He touched the cheekbone area and advanced through his hair to his ear. At that moment he felt a sharp pain. The area of the head was wet and red with blood and something was there. It was metal and sharp, small, maybe medium.

He tried to get up. The stun was falling behind for coming heavy headaches. The thing, or more specifically, that little sharp piece of shrapnel metal dug into his head.

He tried to reach the trench where he knew the soldiers were on the side. He just avoided it. He was faint. He managed to get there. He was safe, yet. He touched the piece of metal again. He groaned in pain. There was no medical assistance at the moment, so he had no choice but to rely on himself.

The crippled Chris tugged at the piece of metal that had slipped into his head. He almost screamed in pain. Damn it hurt. He tugged again and tried not to scream, tears flowing from his eyes. With every little attempt to take the piece of metal out of his head, the open wound bleed more.

The piece of metal was almost out. He tugged grimly. At that moment he felt a damn great pain and writhed again in pain. The pain was so strong that, shortly after he had pulled the piece of metal out of his head, he cried in pain.

Chris looked at the piece of metal that caused the injury. It was a small, sharp piece of metal, the shape of an irregular rhombus. The piece was almost entirely fresh blood and still warm. He dropped the metal piece on the ground, just like his rifle.

He had nothing on backpack to stop the bleeding. His head began to wobble, he closed his eyes. He fell unconscious, heard only very familiar man voices for a moment.

"Chris, Chris! What are you waiting for all the saints! Help him get to the military hospital!"

Chris opened his eyes. He woke up on an uncomfortable wooden bed. There was only a blanket instead of a mattress. He looked around. He saw other wounded soldiers on the beds, some of them was worse on it than him. Nurses treated them. He realized he was in a military hospital. Military hospital was in an inconspicuous trench thought to be abandoned.

He was hot and noticed that he was sweating. He had a bandage on his head. The bandage covered his hair in the forehead, otherwise the bandage did not interfere with his face.

"It's better little brother?" Chris heard a very familiar voice and turned.

"Martin!?" Chris yelled

His older brother stood there. Dressed as a pilot of the American Air Force. His uniform was still the same color. Martin looked happy to see his little brother again.

"I was worried about you when I learned about what happened to your battalion. I had to persuade the general to let me out of service for a few days so I could visit you. As I see, I obviously came just in time." Martin said and he smiled

Chris gave up on the pain he had yet felt and the possible fever. He got up and flew into his older brother's arms.

"Martin, you don't even know how much to see you, it happened a lot and you remember that letter where you wrote me that I will find love?" Chris enthusiastically tried to summarize everything.

The hug is over. Chris noticed one of the military honors his older brother had on his chest next to his name badge.

"Congratulations, brother!" Chris said and he continued "You're a war hero?"

Martin noticed his younger brother is looking at his badge and decided to answer him.

"I am. I got it with a good thing. During the air battles I prevented the bombing of one French city full of civilians. Honors for heroism. But there is a new problem."

"What?" Chris asked

"The Red Baron."

"Oh." Chris said. He honestly didn't knew about who is his older brother talking about.

"Nevermind." Martin sighed and he looked to the open-air military hospital entrance where the healed soldiers ran back to service "I have to go. They want me as soon as possible on duty. I like to see you again little brother."

"Good luck Martin." Chris said, when he watched how his older brother is leaving.

"Looks like you've recovered quickly Chris. Come on, your battalion is waiting for you."

Chris spotted at the entrance to the military hospital. His battalion. His former friend, a sniper, sixteen-year-old James looked completely different from their first actions. He had one small scar on his face and apparently used to wearing badges of killed enemies. From his point of view, hatred was obvious. Chris knew that his friend had become a worse man for some reason than Jeff Oralson, the same old man from his battalion that bullyed him and who subsequently deserted.

He met her again. This was one from the series of their meetings, when they as lovers spent time together. Now it could be said that they were an officially couple in love. It was November and the first war winter slowly approached. The soldiers had no idea what hell would be waiting for them in the winter. Fortunately, Chris got out of the injury, so he didn't have to wear a bandage on his head.

"I'll catch you, baby!" Chris called and he ran to his girlfriend among the trees.

"You'll have to be very fast, dear!" Aviva replied, she laughed.

She hid behind a tree, not far from her sweetheart. It was a day, but even though their love affairs took place near or better in the war, they didn't mind.

"And Gotcha!" Chris surprised her. He surprised her the same way he had when they first met. Except that he did not behave like someone who was beginning to lose his mind and was not armed.

They both laughed with joy. Chris used to occasionally make a "temporary desertion", or as he called it, and could be with his love.

She flew into his arms. They were both happy. A couple of lovers have been in love since you have shown love to each other during their second meeting. He looked at her with a smile. They laughed for a moment, then they kissed in love on mouths.

Kissing them forced them to lie down on the cold ground, on the grass among the fallen leaves. They were dressed, and after jogging during childhood play they were warm, maybe hot.

They kissed on the ground for a moment. He lay on her. It was almost lovemaking. He stroked her. There was a bit of sexual excitement, but both of them had not yet been prepared for such a kind of expression of love. Maybe some other time.

"I didn't see you run like this before, darling." Aviva said, while lying on the ground, watching sky and she again laughed.

Chris lay beside her. He also laughed.

"Too bad you can't be with me in the battalion. I bet we'd be a great two on the battlefield." he said

She clung to him.They grabbed their hands and looked into their lover's face.

"I'm not on the anyone's side. Plus, I'm just a volunteer. Even if it work, I don't think your battalion would accept it. Especially your former friend."

Chris sighed. He tried to get together why his former friend began to behave like a tyrant after his first meeting with Aviva in the woods, and basically became a battalion leader despite his young age. James didn't knew about Chris having a love affair with Aviva. After all, Chris had invented a false story he had covered, what had actually happened, and the other men believed the story.

Aviva noticed that her dear was now in a bad mood. She kissed him, than stroked him on his face.

"That'll be fine, darling. You got me. We can be together when we have chance. They don't know about us." she said

Other times, when they had a chance they could be together in the evening. Unfortunately, it used to be very risky. They both knew that if there was a reason why Chris sometimes disappeared from the trench in the evenings, or that he was disappearing at all, then the trouble would be.

Because of the tyranny that now ruled in the battalion, Chris was thinking of real desertion. Yes, if it were found and if they found that he is sometimes disappearing from the trench during evenings, they would immediately shoot him without exception.

But if they didn't find out, he could only be with his love.They could escape somewhere where the war is not, but unfortunately they were just love ideas with a real hope that might never come. Both of them were therefore dependent on each other in their secret love relationship.

It was night and the stars were shining out in the sky. Chris and Aviva, as young people in love, living in their world of hope, joy and love, have learned to ignore weapon sounds in the distance.

They lay pressed against the trunk of the tree. She lay pressed against him.They enjoyed common moments.

Chris kissed her on face and smiled. Love was what gave him and Aviva the hope that everything would be fine again. Every war must end once, right?

Chris almost got a heart attack when he looked at his copper watch. Aviva almost fell asleep at him while cuddling.The reaction of her dearest had awakened her.

Chris sighed. When this was happening, he occasionally cursed for himself.

"I have to go. Again, and believe me Aviva, I am beginning to hate my 'homeland service'."

He stood up and began to grab his military gear, which he threw classically beside where he was with her.

"It does not matter. Definitely we will see again soon." she said and she kissed Chris on his face, than she hugged him.

"Have you ever wondered why I can speak English so well, even though I grew up in Spain?" she asked her dearest, while she stroked his back during their last hug for this day.

"It had never occurred to me before." Chris said and he ironically slightly laughed

"My mother was an American. Father Spaniel. He meet her when she was on vacation in Barcelona. Mom always said it was love at first sight between her and my dad. I say this because I think something like this is between me and you Chris. And I don't want it ever to end."

"I feel you." Chris said

"So go on. I don't want you have problems Chris, you my American hero." she said and she smiled

The hug ended in a kiss on the mouth. Then they looked at each other and smiled. Chris, with all his military equipment, ran down with the rifle in his hands. He did not forgive to wave on his love, probably love of his life during the to the trench near the battlefield.


	7. Chapter 6

The first half-year of the War of Wars has passed. It was now writing the beginning of the year 1915, but winter has proven to be the worst period for soldiers at this time of fighting.

It has become the worst season of the year because of these things: lack of supplies and occasional frostbite.

What to say. It was hard for both warring parties.

But for Chris it was a beautiful love season. Yes, he saw a slaughterhouse every day on the battlefield, but when he was with her, this bloodiest period turned into the most romantic period.

Winter was over for some time now, and it was March 1915.

There have been several political changes during the war in Europe.The Kingdom of Spain was in disagreement with the Ottoman Empire, due to a mistake in diplomacy. And what was it about? Religion! And the United Kingdom mixed it up with the fact that it does not want a conflict with a country close to the Middle East during the war. The Spanish people remembered part of history when the entire Pyrenean Peninsula was under the rule of the Arabs and their religion of Islam. Now that it was the European state where the main religion was Christianity, and the main god of Islam, Allah was perceived as a threat to their civilized state. Because of the violent nature and sexism of women. No one knew if between these two countries with the monarchy would sooner or later be raging a religious war...

Chris as an ordinary soldier, absolutely didn't know which side is winning. And, frankly, he was beginning to be quite one. He wanted it to end. He had something to live for, but at the same time it threatened to end up on the battlefield at any moment.

The war only gave him one good thing.

He found love again, but not just anything. Love of his life.

Nature, at the beginning of spring, at least recovered from yet, perhaps never-ending, fighting.

Where there was no war, it was possible to hear the birds singing, seeing the flowers bloom, the squirrel crawling on the tree occasionally.

Ghost stories about the souls of the dead soldiers who did not find peace also began to arise.

Chris's battalion was currently on a mission. Eliminate another, this time an enemy battalion, which has been found to be responsible for losing stock.This time it rained heavily.They were all wet and cold. Thunder thundered with a thunderbolt. The soldiers were cold and the road was muddy than usual.

"Damn work. When this war is over, I'll open a store." one of the soldiers cursed

"Brace yourself. They will not cuddle with us. All but shoot them all. No prisoners." James ordered out loud in the rain

Chris didn't like James's approach. After he shot that frightened German boy, the other soldiers feared him. Chris hadn't been with him for a while. James was no longer the young teenager who became Chris's friend during his military training. Now it was a psychopath. He ordered the soldiers to kill. Even those enemy soldiers who gave up on them.

Chris loaded his rifle. He was a little scared. Lightning struck again. Drops of water dripped down the green helmet and the wet uniform glistened in the glare of lightning.

He looked out of the trench. The enemy battalion was already creeping. It was night and he could barely see them. They were armed and their uniforms said they were Italian soldiers.

It was very late in the evening and the missions of this type used to be very tiring. Soldiers would like to sleep, but they couldn't.

"Well. I'll split your tasks." James said and everyone looked at him "You Dean, you will surprise them from the backup. Throw them some grenade to stun them."

Dean shook his head and pulled out the first grenade he had in the backpack.

"Frenchman and our runaway orphan.You two will surround them and try to shoot them at any cost. Even if you were to die."

The young man James was talking about looked at the French soldier in shock, as if to tell him he didn't want to die.

Then he looked at the only handicaped soldier in the battalion. The young man who lost his leg during the fight.

"You're gonna watch the situation. If something went wrong, don't worry about throwing some grenades." then he looked at Chris and said "And the best eventually. Chris, if something goes wrong for the British reinforcements that are nearby. If it didn't work out, I specifically ask you to kill them in one. You have from the all of us the greatest murderous elan."

Chris was concerned when he realized what his former friend had said. James wants him to kill as if killing was fun. He uses his war madness.

This is not James, Chris thought.

So there was the first part of the attack. The enemy battalion stopped when they heard the impact of an unknown object on the ground. Their commander gestured with a right hand to stop in walking. He held a rifle in his left hand.

They looked back at the impact site. One young man wanted to get out of here when it was discovered that the thing was a unlocked grenade. It was supposed to explode, but it hasn't exploded yet.

"What the hell is that with that damn thing!?" Dean was mad when he discovered that the triggered grenade had not exploded. He watched the whole thing hidden from the distance. He knew he would try to find him.

The Italian battalion commander instructed his men to bring the enemy soldier who threw it. The young men scattered on the order of their boss.

A curious commander took a muddy grenade from a dirty puddle where the thing fell. At least he wanted to find out what production was. What enemies attacked the battalion with which particular nationality.

He read that grenade was American production. From the Falcon's Claws Weapons Factory in the American City of Falcon City.

He wanted to throw it away, but at that moment, the grenade exploded in his right hand. Light shone on him. Part of his hand flew away.There was a bloody part of his torn flesh out of his palm that stood out of bone.The explosion injured his face. Shards of explosive explosion dug into his face and eyes.The commander, with a bloody face, fell heavily injured to the ground, breathing deeply. He saw nothing. His eyes hurt and when he saw something, it was a piece of metal in his lens. He knew that it had been put into the vitreous as well.

The heavily injured commander heard the shots. The enemies now attacked his men. He heard the steps. Someone came to him. His face wounded Italian commander barely saw.

"This is what I think will free you from the pain, right?" the young man aimed a gun at him and shot him straight into the skull.

Chris was in a slaughterhouse. He held a rifle in his hand and hid behind his barbed wire with his friends. He looked back. James stood by the body of a dead Italian commander. Italian soldiers, or at least those who survived the massacre have stopped shooting back too.

Chris stopped shooting and the Frenchman by his side too.

The Italians seemed panicked. For the youngsters it was probably the first time they had been on the battlefield without a commander. Instead of running away and risking being shot by enemies during the run, they gave up.

Chris ran along with other men from the battalion behind James. The Italians surrendered. James just re-loaded his handgun and all but the Italians knew what was going on.

"James, you're not serious about the execution. Let them go." Chris said

James just turned and looked at him with a hateful look.

"Somehow you matured Chris." James said

Chris came to him and told him what he thought about him all along.

"I'm three years older than you. James, but seriously, what's wrong with you? Why is it all killing when it goes peacefully? What happened to you? You're no longer the friend I met during military training. You're just a madman. Madman."

"You're a madman too, you just didn't admit it." was James's reply

"What I did to you that you hate me?" Chris said with serious voice

James was silent. Chris left James for a moment and decided to disagree with killing the other men in his battalion. He hid the rifle in his backpack.

"I don't want to be your leader, I'm just an ordinary man like you, I just want to say something that should have been said in this battalion long ago: Why do we have to kill the captives? Why? To prove that we are more monsters than they are? They are also people like us, and they like you or me didn't ask for this war."

But that unfortunately had a negative effect.

"I agree! James is a tyrant, a tyrant. There used to be more in this battalion, but he killed one of us when he disagreed with him. This is a rebellion!" one man yelled

The soldier wanted to run for James and attack him with a knife, but Chris stopped him.

"We're supposed to be a team, we don't have to kill each other!" Chris called

"I agree with this young man here!" Frenchman has joined Chris's side

The battalion split into two sides at that moment. One was for the teamwork without killing and the other was for the rebellion.

Chris didn't remember what happened at the moment. He got into a brawl with Dean and everyone stopped fighting on the ground in the mud like kids when a shot suddenly occurred.At that moment, Chris had a broken nose from which blood flowed downstream. He was able to stop the bleeding, but the shot stopped him.

He ran to where the bullet hit his target. Italian soldiers who realized that they were no longer the center of attention grabbed their rifles and thought for a moment that they would be captives of their captors. When they saw that there was an emotional event, they changed their mind and disappeared into the distance in the night battlefield.

When Chris saw what had happened the heart almost jumped out of his chest. James was shot. Now he lay on the ground with a bloody wound on his chest and dying.

Blood flowed from his nose and mouth, and he could clearly see from the look in his eyes that he regretted how he had behaved in his last few months. The other soldiers were now trying to do amateur medical help. Obviously, they also realized that the battalion was a team of friends, who should always be with them even in the most difficult times.

Chris stared into the face of his dying former best friend. James coughed. He coughed up blood and looked into Chris's eyes.

"I didn't tell you why I hated you in the last few months Chris-" James coughed up blood again "You left me on the battlefield alone. Alone! You left your best friend!"

Chris was beginning to recall when it had happened. Tears began to flow from the eyes of the dying James. He continued his last words.

"You betrayed me! I then looked for you with the others and your things were scattered in the woods! Then you invented a false story about what happened to you! I don't know what happened there, but you left me. You have no idea what horrors I saw on the battlefield.."

At that moment, Chris remembered when it happened. The day he met love of his life- Aviva. When he realized what a cruel price he had met love of his life, tears poured into his eyes.

"James, please forgive me." Chris muttered, while he was started crying

"It's too late for this Chris. I just want to tell you." James coughed again and he was still looking into Chris's eyes "Don't do this again.."

The young sixteen-year-old man fixed his gaze on the gray sky. At that moment he died. Chris was kneeling on the mud. Tears flowed from his eyes. It was hard to come to know to him, that he had met love of his live for the price of betraying his best friend, whom he knew in his army's service for the homeland.

Chris was crying. His hands covered his face and he sobbed. He stopped sobbing when he felt a tap on his shoulder. His hands stopped covering his face and stopped crying. He turned to see who tapped him on his shoulder. The French soldier patted him on his shoulder.

"Don't cry, it'll be okay young." Frenchman said.

"Why are you telling me this? I betrayed my best friend and it cost him life. I don't know how to get out of it. He's dead due to me! Moreover, he was younger than me!" fell from Chris

"Every person makes mistakes in his life, even those he cannot return even if he wants to go back. You'll get out of it. Every person has to accept it and compare with it." Frenchman replied

There were two tears, which flowed from Chris's eye, but the Frenchman responded like that.

"Don't cry anymore. It's time for your friend to bury him, at least with a decent funeral."

It was very early in the morning. The sun was slowly rising, and the sky was red to orange. Surrounding soldiers looked black from a distance. Like some puppets you can't see in the face.

There were a several barbed wires in the place where the soldiers stood at the moment, but mainly here there were a lot of wooden crosses.

Chris was holding a shovel dirty from the mud in his hand. Tears flowed from his eyes, he was sad. He heard amateur Chris Christian chanting. The deceased was a Catholic.

"Lord, give this young man forgiveness from sins in purgatory. Give him peace and quiet in Heaven. In the name of the Son, Father and Holy Spirit, help this young man find peace on the other side. Let his soul rest in peace. Amen." a French soldier chanting an amateur Catholic last farewell.

He watched as the other two soldiers carried on the couch for the wounded dead body hidden under the blanket. They carefully laid the dead body in the dug pit.

"It's time to bury James." Dean said and he looked at Chris, holding a shovel at that moment

Tears were pouring down on from Chris's eyes as he dug up the body of his deceased friend, along with the other two men. Chris blamed himself for his death, even though the French soldier kept telling him that it was the fate that stood of his friend's death.

Chris personally tapped a freshly made wooden cross on his friend's grave.Then he stepped back. There were tears in his eyes all the time, but the other soldiers, as well as his friends, tried to calm him down.There was still dirt on the fresh grave, and a wooden cross on the back. It will take some time for the grass to grow on the grave.

Everyone looked at the grave for the moment of a deceased friend, a founding member of this battalion.

"We should go." one man said and the soldiers began to slowly move away. Only Chris came after them as the last.

He put helmet of his deceased friend and flower on his deceased friend's grave, calming him at the beginning of the war. Then he looked at his grave, which was shadowed by the shadow of a wooden cross.

"Forgive me James." he muttered

Then he turned, took his military gear, and followed his battalion.


	8. Chapter 7

Almost two years have passed since James's death. Almost two years since Chris and Aviva were theirs. Not that they were theirs in the sense that they were married. They weren't married couple yet. They were in theirs the sense that they loved each other for two years.The war was not over and it was already written year 1917.

It was November 21st. Meanwhile, there has been a lot of politics in the world. There was a revolution in Tsarist Russia. No, just any revolution, but the Great October Socialist Revolution, which ended with the Bolsheviks' victory and the death of the Russian royal family. The Bolsheviks split into two sides, and there was almost a civil war. Someone unknown, but prevented the civil war. But who, it is not known.

As for the two-year-old misunderstanding between Kingdom of Spain and the Ottoman Empire, several minor fights occurred. There were several naval battles in the Mediterranean Sea. Spain's ally was Portugal. A short war ended with a peace treaty saying states will not attack each other because of misunderstandings in mutual religions. However, there was an uprising of European nations in the Balkan territory and, with the support of the warring European states, the peoples gained independence. For the Ottoman Empire, the loss of territory and residents, and the fear of the newly formed Soviet Union, which originated on the site of the original Tsarist Russia.

For Chris and Aviva it was something like the first blow to their relationship, because Aviva wanted to fight for her country. She changed her mind when the man she loved told her she was fighting for her country here in France. That she is fighting to do not get this war to her homeland.

Perhaps almost all those who fought on the battlefield had no idea how the political situation was developing. Everyone, but they wanted one: The end of this war.

In the battalion where Chris was in, it changed a lot in two years. Originally he thought about deserting when James wasn't still alive, but now everything was different.

When he admitted how it was all in reality, he expected to be shot, but not.Their battalion was more of a group of friends than a very cruel group of soldiers, so those people were his friends.That changed everything.

He no longer had to conceal his love affair with Aviva. In other words, they could be together all the time, and apparently it seemed that the other men in the battalion even wished them luck.

The war was not over yet, but its damage was clearly visible. Destroyed cities, destroyed agricultural lands, and lots of rotting dead bodies.

The battalion was near enemy territory. A group of mostly soldiers from the American city of Falcon City gave their battalion some style.

The battalion took the sign of a flying falcon holding a bullet into a sniper rifle in its beak.In the background with American and French flag.

"Here it looks. Sometimes it seem they are worse on it than we do." Chris added and he looked around.

This was one of the freshly abandoned battlefields. Instead of growing grass, there was mostly mud on the ground. In the distance, it was possible to see abandoned trenches and destroyed wooden carriages that served to transport and import supplies to the soldiers in the trenches.There were also corpses. Both humans and horses that killed artillery when they did their job to human riders.

The time here would be three o'clock in the afternoon, and since there was no smoke caused by any weapon, it was beautiful to see what the war caused to this place. The sky had such a sad white color, but the sun shone as if it were a pleasure from its work.

"Chris, how your girlfriend isn't with us in the battalion when we accepted her?" Dean asked Chris

Chris turned and looked at him. He held rifle in his hands.

"She says she's not on the side of anything." Chris said "But don't worry. She's still with us, she just doesn't show up at any moment. Aviva is the prettiest woman I've ever met in my life."

The soldiers stopped at that moment. Someone was there.They loaded their rifles and walked carefully around the debris.

The mud steps were heard. All the soldiers at that moment were tense.The possibility of who it could be was abundantly. German guerrillas or some hostile group of deserters were envisaged.

Chris was ready to fire the rifle. He really had no idea who else would just hang around. He breathed deeply. Again he felt adrenaline, tension, stress.

He walked past the ruined carriage. His nose was struck by the stench of a decaying corpse of a slaughtered horse.

What the hell is wrong with me, how is it that there is no enemy here, Chris thought. Stress began to touch him. He didn't know what the hell it was or is.

"Probably nobody's here. Even so, I would prefer to be more careful." Frenchman said and he coughed.

"Let's go back to a nearby camp. Looks like there's nothing to search this area." one young man from the battalion said

So the way of the battalion turned to the return trip to the nearby French military camp. The forest was partly destroyed by the fighting.

The journey was about half an hour long, but after fifteen minutes something happened that stopped all the soldiers.

"Did you heard it?" The Frenchman pointed on it first.

"What?" Chris asked and he started turning around

"It sounded like a Russian merry." Frenchman said.

Everyone at that moment did not understand what the poet meant.

"Russian merry? And here? Are you kidding Jean?" Dean did not understand.

"Maybe perhaps he was thinking the Russian music." Chris said

"But why should a Russian merry take place when we're not in Russia, Dean? Doesn't anyone make fun of our battalion?" other soldier replied to Dean.

There was a shot. The young man with a tragic past that shot hit, after he finished this sentence at that moment.The bullet went through his skull. It wasn't a nice look at what was then with his body.

The battalion panicked at that moment. This time, stressed out Chris was ready to shoot. The men got into a circular formation and headed all around. Only one man had the courage to say a sentence that then cost him his life.

"Whatever are you, come out here you the Russian fine!"called suprisingly Frenchman

"With pleasure!" there was a loud voice with an American accent saying this sentence straight in English.

Another shot came suddenly. The Frenchman fell dead to the ground and everyone looked into the eyes of the young man who shot him.

The man was dressed in black as a politician, though he was certainly not a politician. All of them hung from their black shoes to their waist to cheeks and their right hand in which they still held the gun.

"Do you still remember me?" he said and he looked with hateful gaze into Chris's eyes, Chris was shocked at that moment "No? You don't remember the one you thought was dead, and then he found himself deserted?"

Terrified Chris realized at the moment who he was. The young man from the Business Academy, who bullyed him during his military training and deployment until he deserted.

"J-Jeff? Is that you?!" Chris said

The man was still looking at him, even though the rifles of the remaining soldiers were aiming at him, including Chris.

"That's right, you weak! It's me!" Jeff yelled

Dean had a different reaction than Chris.

"Hey, you bastard! You better watch what you want to use your gun, or this battalion of falcons will shoot you out here!"

Jeff reacted only with laughter, for which most of the men in the battalion almost bowed their rifles to the ground.

"I'm not alone here! And those who you call fines are my friends!" he said and than he said something in the Russian language. It sounded like this: "_Товарищи!_ _Подойди ко мне!_"

The whole battalion was now shocked by the Russian enemy. Yes they had weapons, but they had more people than this battalion. The Russians were supposed to be on the side of the Americans in this war, but this armed group of Russians seemed to be against their American allies.

"How are you abusing allies?! The Russians should be on the same side as the Americans." Chris didn't understand

Jeff just looked at him with an evil smile, laughing again, and then he said the young man he was bullying.

"This is my group, or rather my friends, not on the side of the Russian soldiers fighting the American side. Me and them. We are revolutionaries. We are one of many who stood in the liberation of Russia from the tsarist tyranny and the establishment of a world where everyone would be equal. We're the Bolsheviks." Jeff said.

Chris tried to recall news reports about what had happened in Russia. When there was a stop in one city, he bought the newspaper. Bolsheviks, Bolsheviks. Isn't it related to Marxism? Apparently, Jeff noticed that his former, currently politically ignorant victim would not find it.

"You're in trouble, huh? If you knew what I had experienced after the desertion, you would have feared me even more." Jeff said and he was still looking at nervous Chris.

Chris swalloved. He knew, that he is in a big trouble. It also seemed that Jeff had betrayed his own homeland by joining the Bolsheviks, managing his political ideology based on Karl Marx's communist philosophy.

"I haven't portrayed my story yet and I guess you want to hear it from me first Chris." Jeff said and he still looked at Chris. Chris was shocked but silent at that moment.

So the man who had previously bullyed Chris began to tell his story in a pretty long summary.

"When I deserted, I found myself in an even bigger wilderness than on the battlefield. Other deserters, guerrillas, volunteers, spies and traitors." he shrugged his shoulders "You probably wouldn't believe what people I met. From pacifists to fanatics. I almost died, but one group of Russian soldiers saved me. I found my best friends among them and I learned Russian. I fought in their unit. I didn't want any of them to die in the fight. I tried to repay my debt and eventually accepted me as a member of my family. They were a better family than I had in America - I didn't tell you. My father was an engineering worker, and after my mother's death he raised me alone. He was drinking. As a result, my own father beat me and I vowed to prove to him one day, what man had grown up from his son. From the boy he was beating. I spent some time in that Russian unit. But then I learned that a revolution is underway in Russia to bring about equality between people. I couldn't miss it. I joined the Bolsheviks and their revolutionaries. There are three main politicians, but I have the one I chose for. I am in the Bolsheviks side who call themselves socialists."

The story was not over yet, but he explained the story a lot. That story explained why Jeff was bullying Chris. Why, even after the political part of the events, there was no expected civil war among the revolutionaries in Russia. Jeff was the man who stopped the war between the Russian Bolshevik comrades.

"I took part in the revolution in Moscow. I was almost arrested and executed by a royal guard but my friends freed me. I owed them a lot. Revolution- this is something you will experience once in a lifetime if you are lucky. You see citizens killing themselves in almost civil war - yes, I count the police. The tyranny will be overthrown and after the revolution life in the country will be better than before. After the revolution, I decided that I and my friends would visit my old relatives- you. That's all." Jeff ended his story

But one question was left. Why is he trying to kill them? What is the reason for this?

Jeff looked at the still shocked faces of the men from his former battalion and then said.

"All of you are waiting here for death. Death for what political party you're fighting for."

What? It doesn't make any sense, Chris thought.

Chris kept aiming his rifle. He knew there would be a fight. Jeff was aiming his gun at him. At that moment there was a fight.

Jeff almost shot Chris while the troops set about themselves in a bloody firefight. Chris barely prevented the attack.

The gun fell to the ground and the rifle, too. It became a fist fight while rifle shots were heard.

Jeff started punching Chris in the face. Chris got some hard wounds in his face. When Jeff wanted to hit him for the third time, Chris managed to catch his fist. The pressure hurt a little at the impact. Jeff then looked into Chris's face and then he kicked him into his chest. Chris staggered in pain. He ignored what was happening around him. He had to fight his aggressor.

"You'll never get me." Chris said and then he hit Jeff into his face.

Jeff angrily looked at him. Blood poured from his nose, so he wiped his blood with his finger. He looked at that finger. Fresh blood flowed over his finger.

"Oh sh-" Chris, lying on the floor, did not finish his curse when looking at standing and now angry Jeff.

The struggle between the battalions was about to come to an end, but not between him and Jeff. Jeff took gun lying on the ground and he began aiming at defenseless Chris.

He fired. Chris barely dodged. Again he was under fire.

"Leave him alone!" Chris heard a very familiar female voice. His love- she's here.

Well, Chris hadn't expected the woman he loved to have the courage to attack a man who was stronger than him himself.

Jeff turned. Aviva aimed at him with a gun and seemed not to be afraid to shoot at him. The fight around now didn't matter.

The Russians did not give up, even though the struggle began to collect victims on both sides. Larger Russians had more of them because of an unthinking combat strategy.

"That is her? Are you kidding me? The daughter of that Spanish pro-royal spy who says she's not on the anyone's side?" Jeff unwillingly said

Chris saw a chance to grab his rifle and run to his love, but he didn't quite understand what Jeff said. Aviva and the daughter of Spanish a government spy? Wasn't her father a repairman?

He grabbed Jeff's gun, which was rolling on the ground, but at that moment one of the Russians flew into it. Chris felt a wound on his chest, this struggle seemed endless. At the same time, he felt a mental wound.The woman he loves lied to him, but now there was no time to deal with it.

The man wanted to pierce him with a bayonet on the spot, but he barely pulled the bayonet, so the bullet came and the dead body of the attacker hit Chris lying on the ground. Chris pushed the corpse away and finally had a chance to find out what was happening.

"In your place I would give up and call off my men, Jeff." Chris said when he began aiming at Jeff.

Jeff turned to both sides. On one side he saw Aviva and on the other side Chris with an almost satisfied look on his face. He knew he was screwed.

"In your place, I'd do it too. My dear sometimes almost go crazy in combat." Aviva said and she looked at Chris and then she smiled.

Jeff seemed to know he had failed.

"_Товарищи, отступайте! Отступление_!"

Jeff yelled something on his men in the Russian language.The Russians stopped fighting, and the surviving few men from the original American battalion watched puzzled as their enemies ceased to fight.

"You better leave Jeff." Chris said and he was still aiming at him.

Chris and Aviva watched as Jeff and his men left the area where they fought. The two lovers threw their weapons to the ground and hugged each other after they left.

Chris kissed Aviva on her cheek and he was still stroking her on her back during hug.

"I owe you a lot of explanation, sweetheart." Aviva said in his arms

"It's okay, mainly that we're together. I'm not the political type, but I suppose you did it for my good."

"Like we had previously secretly met."

They both got into a romantic moment from which the other men were in the battalion, a bit beside them.

"Come on. We will return to the camp, burying with honor and repenting and crying our friends who died during this fight and forget the war for a few days. The commander said our battalion did not have to fight for its services for several days and that we could be the few days in some French town." suggested Dean

Chris and Aviva stopped hugging. After Chris heard Dean's idea he looked at him and other men from battalion and he smiled.

I have a chance to Aviva to ask for a hand in the city, I must not screw it up, Chris thought.


	9. Epilogue

It was nice in a one smaller French town. It was 28th November, 1917, and it was a week since the violent encounter with a former battalion member Jeff Oralson, who desserted 3 years ago and became a Bolshevik. War unfortunately did not ended yet.

The small town was in the countryside, and for soldiers who got a few days off before returning to the trenches, it was a good place to spend time and satisfy needs (including sexual).

It was beautiful even in autumn. It was an atmosphere from which one could sense the love and joy of local people in love, but also the pain and suffering of soldiers fighting in the distance.

The battalion whose Chris was a member here was some two days. The longest time could be a week and the shortest time one day.

It was always something of a deliverance for the soldiers. Delivering from the horrors of war and being shot at any moment.

Today was a beautiful fall day in love. One red squirrel was looking for nuts in the leaves on the ground she could use as supplies for the coming winter. She grabbed one of the acorns and began to chew him. She heard something and began to look back.

"Perhaps the damn war is about to end. I would like take you to America." Squirrel heard voice of a young man.

She turned again and saw a young brown-haired man dressed in white shirt and military green trousers and black boots.

He held the hand of a young brown-haired Hispanic woman dressed in a yellow tank top, a gray coat, and trousers.

The squirrel knew that the two people were headed to where he was now. She grabbed the acorn from the ground, thrusting the acorn into the mouth, and climbed the nearest tree quickly. At the top of the branch, she watched curiously what was going on between these people.

"Everything sometimes ends darling. Surely this war will soon be over. In addition, fighting is no longer as bloody as it was at the beginning." Aviva said

"But our love will never ends." Chris said and he kissed her on her forehead.

Both lovers lay in the cold grass and chatted. Chris used this short stop because he could be with his love of life every day without being disturbed.

"Life has brought me so much happiness and so much sadness. I'd like to lead a normal life. After this war, I will never reprove the army again and finally make a doctorate in biology at college." Chris entrusted Aviva

She clung to the man she loved again. Chris looked at her with a smile. He stroked her, the presence of the other reassured them.

"I love you." Aviva muttered into her dearest's eyes.

He smiled and began to kiss her in love.

How do I ask her, how I ask her? Think, Chris think, Chris was saying to himself and he marched all around the room at the pub, where he got accommodation as a soldier.

It was afternoon and Chris tried to figure out how Aviva would ask for her hand today. To make their love an unbreakable bond. He wanted to engage her with her at least today and arrange a beautiful wedding after the war.

He looked at his left hand. He had a gold-plated ring of French production in his palm with a round piece of purple amethyst in place of the diamond.

It was a ring he wanted to give to his love.Then he got the idea.

It was eight o'clock in the evening. The Great War continued, but during that stop it did not prevent the soldiers from having fun. There was a merry laugh again, foot-footing in dance and music.

All the soldiers enjoyed music and entertainment while dancing in the pub, only one soldier was somewhere else.

Chris was with Aviva while moonlight shining on them created perfect evening to be together. They kissed each other in love and the moonlight shone on them. Behind them was a local forest. They stood and she was almost in his arms.

"Darling?" she asked

"Yeah?" Chris said and he looked at her

"This is a beautiful night.." she muttered and she kissed him again.

Now, for a moment, we'll look at what happened to the other soldiers at the moment.

There was a noise that stopped the joy. The soldiers had to stop having fun.

"What the hell was that?" Dean said and he pulled out handgun from his sheat looking at the entrance to the pub.

"It sounded like a grenade explosion." other soldier added.

"So come to find it with me Tom." Dean added and so these two soldiers fro the battalion went out to find out, who caused that. At that moment, suddenly something struck them and before they could find out what shots were following in the dark. It was an attack.

The attackers spoke Russian and there was only one who spoke Russian with an American accent. They set out the wooden door and burst into the pub.

Battalion soldiers pulled out the first weapons they had at hand and were about to fight. Meanwhile, panic broke out in the pub. The civilians tried to escape while the owner wanted to protect the business even at the cost of his own life. There was a bloody fire between the soldiers at Chris's battalion and the invaders. The fight had only one winner.

"Сожги это все товарищи! Пусть они узнают, что они не должны начинать с революционеров!" yelled out loud in Russian with the American accent their leader as he passed the dead in the puddle of their own red blood.

"Chris did you heard something?" Aviva asked Chris at the moment, when he wanted to do one of the main events in their relationship.

Chris he looked back several times. The town seemed to be perfectly fine from the night view. Chris looked at Aviva again (her hand fell into his left palm) and then he said.

"I don't know what it was. Probably some night animal."

Aviva with smile flew into his arms and she looked at him.

"Nature seems to wish our love." she said

Chris managed to pull the other hand out of the pocket ring. She hadn't seen the ring yet. Chris was so damn nervous at the moment. What if he messed up, or what if Aviva told him not?

In the moonlight he knelt before her on the ground and began to chant his plea.

"Aviva Corcovado, you are the best woman I've ever found and loved in my entire life. We've loved each other for two years, and the never-ending war that has put us together has not separated us. Aviva, dear, I ask you now and here. One day I would like to be the father of your children, to be the best husband and father on the planet. Aviva, will you marry me?"

She stared at him for a moment. Chris barely stood up, but at that moment, she flew into his arms with tears of happiness in her eyes, saying: "Yes, yes!"

The hug was over and Chris wanted to put the engagement ring on her hand. He knew that when the ring was on her finger, it would be proof of their engagement.

Just as he put his engagement ring on her hand, they both heard the sound of shooting rifles. They didn't know what was going on.

Chris pulled out his soldier's handgun with the same hand, where he held engagement ring.The sound came very close to them. Before he could pull the gun out and start shooting in the dark, he and Aviva saw their attackers in the light of the lamp. It was just a second.

At that moment, the lives of both young lovers were ended with rifle shots. An engagement ring spilled with blood lay on the ground beside their bodies at the hand of an ordinary young man who wanted to give him to love of his life.


End file.
